


traditions, true and blue

by Pepperdoken



Category: Naruto
Genre: Child Soldiers, Gen, Senju Hashirama (mentioned) - Freeform, Uchiha Izuna (mentioned) - Freeform, childhood in the warring clans era, cultural coming of age
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-19 04:09:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19967803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pepperdoken/pseuds/Pepperdoken
Summary: Madara may have already been running missions, but adulthood in the Uchiha clan isn't just that.





	traditions, true and blue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [drowsyivy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/drowsyivy/gifts).



“Congratulations on becoming an adult,” Atago says, his voice grave, and bows. He offers the cloth wrapped crate solemnly. 

Madara looks at it, half delighted and half uneasy, and bows. “Thank you,” he says as he accepts it, “for your hard work and care.” He tries to match Atago’s demeanor, but he’s not quite sure he’s successful. He’s never sure how much respect is enough. His father is always watching him, and always chides him afterwards for not showing enough respect — or for showing _too much_. 

“It is my honor, Madara-sama,” Atago replies quietly. His eyes are down, avoiding Madara’s eyes, as they have been the entire time. It’s uncomfortable to have a man older than his own father treat him like this. 

Tajima takes over then, saying all of the polite things as Madara looks down at the wrapped package. It’s heavier than it looks, and it’s not all physical. 

Once Atago has left, Tajima turns to look at Madara and studies him closely. The weight of his father’s gaze is uncomfortable, but Madara tries to not shift under it. 

“Due to your recent actions,” Tajima says after a long moment, “I had been considering that I had been hasty in commissioning those for you.” 

Madara winces, but doesn’t answer. He doesn’t _regret_ befriending Hashirama, but… Tajima’s disapproval is to be expected, but what Madara hadn’t expected was the distance it had caused between him and Izuna. 

“Still, however foolish you were they _are_ finished, and it would be an insult to the Mizuhame Lineage to waste their valuable time and work to not put them to use.” He gestures at the door. “Ensure the fit is correct, because it wouldn’t do for you to die due to carelessness — either due to your actions or Atago’s. After all, who knows what enemies you might find yourself facing?” 

The reminder of his meetings at the riverside, with Hashirama, and how they’d ended chills Madara even as he retreats to his room, but when he opens the package excitement wipes away the unease. At the very top is his first adult coat, folded so that the protective, fire-resistant indigo fabric is on the outside. At the moment, it looks exactly the same as the coat he’s currently wearing. 

He pulls it out, more than a little eagerly, and turns it inside out. A description is one thing, but actually _seeing it_ … 

It’s better than he thought it would be: Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susano-o being born as Izanagi washes his face. It's the pattern that his father had chosen for his coat, one that only members of the Amaterasu lineage are allowed to wear. 

A reminder, Tajima had told him, of who he is. Who he will be. 

One day, Madara will be the outguard head — and with the abolishment of the homeguard, there's no question that he'll be clan head 

He'll be the one responsible for the entire Uchiha clan. 

He turns the coat right side out again and brushes his hand over the dark blue fabric of the coat's outside before setting it to the side. Remaining in the crate is his first set of armor. 

It isn’t _technically_ his first set — the clan has leather armor for children, but the fit is almost always poor. 

Why bother making armor for a specific child when they would either live to outgrow it or die in it? 

His enthusiasm quelled, Madara pulls the armor out. Each piece is wrapped individually in red cloth to protect its decorations from damage. Since he’s still growing the armor is more functional: its only decoration is a simple blue enamel on the armor plates. 

Madara swallows hard and wishes Izuna was here. Even with how angry Izuna is about Madara's meetings with Hashirama, and how angry Madara is about Izuna telling their father about them — it would be much easier to put the armor on and check its fit with his brother there to help. But Tajima had ordered Izuna out of the house to train shortly before Atago had arrived, and Madara knows better than to wait until he returns to try the armor on. 

So Madara gears up slowly and carefully, ensuring that he buckles the armor securely, but not overly tight. And once that’s done, he shrugs into his new coat and fastens it, hiding both his armor and the embroidered design. 

Madara squares his shoulders and looks at himself in the mirror. He doesn’t think he looks any older than he did before Tajima had commissioned the armor and coat for him, but he’s abruptly aware that he is fully an adult in the eyes of the clan now: he’d survived long enough that commissioning armor and a coat made _just_ for him wouldn’t just be a waste of supplies. 

He’s just as aware that Izuna may never get to be this old. 

He straightens, and goes out to train. When he passes his father’s study, he’s called in. 

“Good,” Tajima says after a long moment of studying him, “it fits. You’ll begin work as an adult of the Uchiha clan tomorrow.” 

Madara’s work as an adult the next day and for the next several months doesn’t seem any different than what he had been doing before: running missions outside of the clan lands and running messages inside of them. 

And then — 

The alarm bell starts ringing. There’s an attack. 

“Gear up,” Tajima orders Madara, shoving him towards his room. “You will defend the clan against our enemies.” 

_But_ , he wants to protest, _but that’s_ Hashirama’s _clan._

He doesn’t. 

He armors up. He arms himself. He joins the party rushing towards the section of the border that the Senju are attacking. 

He sees Hashirama— 

—and he sees the bodies of his clanmates. 

(He sees the bodies of Hashirama’s clanmates, too.) 

Madara raises his weapon, ready to fight. 


End file.
